Science Fiction

Max Gladstone is the author of the Hugo Award-nominated Craft Sequence of novels, and he just released his latest novel, EMPRESS OF FOREVER, a smart sci-fi adventure about far future tech. Max studied Chan poetry and late Ming dynasty fiction at Yale; he lived and taught for two years in rural Anhui province, and has traveled…

Is faster than light travel possible? Dr. Erin Macdonald joins us to discuss the current theories–and how they relate to science fiction. She is an astrophysicist, science fiction consultant, aerospace engineer, and host of the online series, “Dr. Erin Explains the Universe”. Her specialty is in general relativity, having worked previously searching for gravitational waves…

Kevin Sorbo is an actor, producer & director, who received international stardom when he booked the lead role in “Hercules: The Legendary Journeys”. Following that success he had the lead role as “Captain Dylan Hunt” in Gene Roddenberry’s “Andromeda”—the first show created by Roddenberry after the original Star Trek series. But more recently Kevin has…

Born in Cheshire, England, Angela moved with her family to Los Angeles, California and started her acting career at the age of 3 playing Paul Newman’s daughter in the movie Somebody Up There Likes Me. At the tender age of four Angela was cast to play Linda Williams for 7 years on the hit television…

80 years ago, Orson Welles caused a panic with his broadcast of “War of the Worlds”. This broadcast, on Sunday evening, October 30, 1938, was realistic enough that some listeners actually thought the Earth was under attack by Martians. Erika Dowell, the associate director and curator of modern books and manuscripts at Indiana University’s Lilly…

Mary Robinette Kowal is a writer, professional puppeteer and an incredible narrator. She is also cast member of the award-winning podcast Writing Excuses and a three-time Hugo Award winner. Mary Robinette is with us today to discuss the Lady Astronaut novels, an amazing science fiction series that takes us on an alternate timeline after a…

Andy Weir built a two-decade career as a software engineer until the enormous success of his first published novel, The Martian, allowed him to live out his dream of writing full-time. Andy is a lifelong space nerd and a devoted hobbyist of such subjects as relativistic physics, orbital mechanics and the history of manned spaceflight….

In this episode (Spoiler Alert!) we review the Netflix reboot of Lost in Space with Laen August, co-host of the Alpha Control podcast. Laen grew up watching Irwin Allen’s original sci-fi adventure TV series and became a life-long fan. Each week, he and his co-host Kurt review individual episodes of the classic series. Laen is retired…

Michael Benson works at the intersection of art and science. A writer, artist, and filmmaker, his new book, Space Odyssey: Stanley Kubrick, Arthur C. Clarke, and the Making of a Masterpiece examines the four year long production of 2001: A Space Odyssey, and was published on the 50th anniversary of that film’s release. During the last…

Executive producers Kevin Burns and Jon Jashni discuss the reboot of Lost in Space that premiered on April 13, 2018. This Netflix Original series features 10 episodes as it traces the story of the Robinson family as they try to survive in hostile space after their ship is thrown off course. This behind-the-scenes discussion covers…